Brad Pitt is Atheist Due to ‘Christian Guilt’

Brad Pitt is an atheist — because his father instilled a “Christian guilt” in him during his upbringing.

The actor revealed that he adheres to no religion in an interview with the UK’s Telegraph on Saturday. Pitt told the paper that he was raised in a Southern Baptist household in Missouri, “with all the Christian guilt about what you can and cannot, should and shouldn’t do.”

“I’d go to Christian revivals and be moved by the Holy Spirit, and I’d go to rock concerts and feel the same fervor,” Pitt told the magazine. “Then I’d be told, ‘That’s the Devil’s music! Don’t partake in that!’ I wanted to experience things religion said not to experience.”

Still, Pitt said he learned the value of hard work from his father, who reportedly ran a trucking company in Missouri.

“He could be a softie,” Pitt told the Telegraph of his father. “But one thing my folks always stressed was being capable, doing things for yourself. He was really big on integrity — and that informed a lot of what [we] try to do now.”

Pitt also revealed that he and his wife and By the Sea co-star, Angelina Jolie, originally wanted double the number of children they currently have.

“Listen, Angie and I were aiming for a dozen, but we crapped out after six,” the actor said, adding: “Everyone talks about the joy of having kids — blah, blah, blah. But I never knew how much I could love something until I looked in the faces of my children.”

Pitt’s collaboration with Jolie, the moody marriage drama By the Sea, is in theaters December 11.